Arc 2: 08 Strike One
by Macx
Summary: The war has broken out for real and the Tji are making their moves. Back on Cybertron the discovery of an ancient Decepticon base turns out to have some bad surprises in store.


**Strike One**   
by Birgit Staebler

It had been six months now and Riverdance still had to get used to a lot of things. She had been confronted with new faces, new situations and sometimes new dangers. Especially all the Decepticons around her were a danger. She had been born a Decepticon but had decided to leave the army and the Cause to pursue what she thought was right. Megatron had proclaimed her an outcast and those Decepticons she had met in her long past had been interested in only one thing: destruction. And as a female she was also a chosen target. Well, she thought with a dry grin, she had shown them that she wasn't that easy a target after all.   
Riverdance checked her chronometer. She wanted to meet with Chromia, one of the few female Autobots who had decided to stay at South Port and help with the work, and with Sphere, someone she was intrigued with. Riv still remembered how Chromia had helped her adjust. Both knew each other from the past and sometimes Riverdance wished Aleeta were still alive. So much had changed and familiar faces helped a lot. Currently the most familiar faces were Megatron and Chromia -- and Starscream, in a way. He had changed, but he was still the same mostly.   
Chromia had decided to give Riverdance a chance to get accustomed to the whole South Port complex. It was an impressive command center, which was still growing, though mostly underground. Constructions were going on everywhere, with the Constructicons, Grapple, Hoist and several other architects working away day after day. Demolitions were mostly handled by the Dinobots to keep them occupied with something; else they got quite annoyed at being inactive and not even Grimlock could really control them anymore. Riverdance was really impressed and she expressed it. Chromia decided to introduce her to the other female Autobots who were at South Port as well. Moonracer, Sonic and Firestar were the only ones present right now, but they were all enthusiastic about meeting their old ally again.   
Chromia also gave Riverdance a few ideas about the Sentinels and Seekers and about their relationship with an individual humanoid, who was called their Interface partner. Riverdance was confused by the concept and Chromia had come to the conclusion that she had to really let her meet them. And the best would be to give her the shock treatment: introduce her to Midnight.   
The Sentinel leader induced shock in everyone   
who met him for the first time, mainly because of the black skin which seemed to absorb light like a sponge, sometimes radiating this very blackness.   
Chromia found Midnight, and with him Rodimus Prime and his Interface partner Shanygn, in one of the open meeting rooms, which were mainly used as day rooms to relax and talk. Midnight was leafing through what looked like stacks of paper, handing Rodimus some, while Shanygn was studying some data disks on the humanoid sized laptop.   
"Hi, guys," Chromia called.   
Rodimus looked up and smiled. It had taken some getting used to the shared Autobot leadership. Rodimus was mainly handling everything concerned with the Sentinels, working closely together with Midnight, but he took over every other duty as well. He and Optimus alternated between Earth and Cybertron a lot. Chromia had once told Riverdance that she knew Rodimus only as Hot Rod and though the color scheme was the same, much had changed from the young, careless robot to the responsible young leader, who still showed a lot of Hot Rod's features but had grown so much.   
"Guys, this is Riverdance," she introduced the female Decepticon at her side. "Riverdance, these are Rodimus Prime, Optimus' second, Midnight, leader of the Sentinels, and Shanygn."   
Shanygn chuckled and Chromia suddenly realized how the introduction had sounded.   
"She's Rodimus' Interface partner," she added.   
"Hey, I wasn't offended," Shanygn laughed. "Hi, Riverdance."   
Riverdance nodded at her, then her optics were drawn to Midnight, who gave her a friendly smile.   
"I was told about you, but...." the Decepticon shook her head. "I've to confess I'm a bit ..... surprised."   
"Why don't you say shocked?" Midnight told her in amusement. "Everyone else feels like it when they see me for the first time."   
Riverdance shook her head again. "No, I won't. It's only surprise. I never saw anyone like you before."   
"And you most likely won't ever see anyone like me again," he smiled. "The others are perfectly normal."   
"You call F/X normal?" Shanygn muttered.   
Midnight grinned. "I wasn't talking about mental stability."   
"I haven't seen you before," Rodimus now remarked.   
"I've just arrived," Riverdance answered warily.   
"Ah." He gave her a curious look.   
Shanygn glanced at him with a scowl and Rodimus suddenly looked at his partner, his optics widening in what Riverdance judged as an innocent look. She only later learned that there was a silent form of communication between them, something coming close to what was known as telepathy but wasn't really telepathy. All Interfaces shared this kind of ability, but it was eerie if an Autobot used the method of mind talk.   
"I'm showing her around," Chromia explained. "Optimus mentioned he'll brief you two later."   
Midnight chuckled. "As usual. I think it's his revenge for the time we handled the problem with the Veneran."   
"I thought this was his revenge," Rodimus replied with a youthful grin.   
"What are you doing here anyway?" Chromia inquired.   
"Sorting through reports, maps, team reports, old archive entries ...."   
"And generally trying not to fall asleep," Shanygn finished her partner's sentence.   
"I see." Chromia tried not to laugh. "Come on, Riv, we'll continue the sight-seeing tour. I still need to introduce you to a few more people you might run into regularly, then First Aid would like to check you through."   
Riverdance nodded. She knew the medic would come up with a lot of replaced stuff, patch-work, old scars and more, and she really needed a complete overhaul, getting back into shape. She said good-bye to the trio, her mind trying to cope with all the new stuff.   
As they walked down the corridor, Chromia looked at her. "I think we should stop over at med bay right away," she remarked. "Or your memory circuits will burst from information overflow."   
Riverdance chuckled. "They already are. This is incredible."   
Chromia grinned. "Yeah, it is. I felt the same when I resurfaced. If you have any problems or questions, just ask."   
"I will."   
They arrived in med bay a few minutes later and Riverdance was treated to her next surprise coming in shape of a human called Nicholas Cavanaugh, who enthusiastically started to work on her checks and repair without ever consulting a scan or design profile. The Decepticon simply sat back and tried not to stare at him as he quickly and professionally adjusted this, repaired that, replaced something else while First Aid handled the larger stuff and the scans, as well as the internal checks. Riverdance knew she had a lot to learn anew and grow accustomed to. It would take some time, but it wasn't impossible.

Riverdance smiled at the recollection of the past. Since then she had got to know many of the Autobots, Seekers and Sentinels, and she liked their company.   
Sighing, she checked the time again, the went on toward her meeting.

* * *

"Oh, geez, what a dump," Springer muttered and looked around the dark room. His vision was good enough to see many details he might have missed otherwise, but it was still not everything. It was enough, though. The room was littered with dirt and debris, and there was dust everywhere. Half the ceiling had collapsed over the work benches at the far end of the room; an explosion had shattered the wall to his left; the door leading apparently to another room was torn and blocking the rest of the entry.   
Suddenly the lights flickered on, though it really wasn't an improvement.   
"All the effort for nothing," Springer sighed.   
A tall figure joined him. Cyclonus' red optics glowed a bit. "It was one of the best hidden bases of the underground," the Decepticon second-in-command told him calmly. "There has to be something here. They wouldn't leave the base intact, all security up and running, if there wasn't something -- anything."   
"Well, they might have planned to lure unsuspecting Autobots here and then blow them sky-high," Springer muttered.   
Cyclonus shot him a look and his mouth curled into a wry smile. "Yes, maybe." He walked deeper into the former base.   
Springer shrugged and joined him. He had his orders straight from Rodimus who was heading these explorations. Originally, Raven should have been on the team as well, but she was busy going over codes and coordinates with Nightmare and the other team down in the doorway chamber. Curiously, he started to scan for anything looking important or like it would be interesting for the scientists. He also watched out for traps. You never knew.   
Cyclonus in turn only watched for traps. His job was to secure the area and to be the one to talk to Decepticons in case they met any, just like Springer was supposed to keep Autobot underground fighters from blasting him. Well, Cyclonus would have preferred to face these odds with Hound, who had been doing most of the explorations with him, but since the Autobot was requested back at the South Port, he had to live with the replacement.   
Finally Cyclonus found what he had been looking for. The main control. He smiled dimly. He was no computer wizard and he had no idea about ancient codes -- it had been hard enough to get into this base and Soundwave had spent several days surfing Cyberspace inside the base's computer to get them the right password -- but he believed he could get this relic working with what he had. Cyclonus touched the activation key and a hum ran through the banks. Springer tensed, hand on his gun, then relaxed a bit.   
"Still operational?" he asked.   
Cyclonus smiled wryly. "Decepticon technology doesn't break with age, Autobot."   
Springer's optics glowed briefly at the hidden insult, then he shrugged and walked over to an adjoining room. Cyclonus let his smile grow, then turned to work on the data files.

* * *

"The base's main hatch is open."   
"Ah, damn, they found the password!"   
"Yeah. And who said it would take them ages?" the first voice mocked.   
Glowing red eyes fixed on the speaker. "Shut your voice box!"   
"Hey, just stating the facts...."   
"Stop that squabbling!" a third voice commanded, clearly female. "It will lead nowhere!"   
There was silence.   
"Good," the female said, satisfied. "Now. Cal, you get up there and watch those two. I want to know who they are and what they are doing. All the others will stay here."   
Cal sighed. "Yeah, right, always me."   
"Better you than me," another one teased.   
Cal snarled at the speaker, then stalked off.   
"Think it's trouble, Tas?" a new voice, this one dark and rather pleasant, asked.   
Tas, the female, shrugged. "I'm not sure, my friend. We all know about the rumors and we all know what rumors are worth. As much as I want to believe in an alliance, I also fear it......"   
"I know. We all do."   
Tas sighed softly.

* * *

"How do you feel?"   
Shanygn rolled her eyes and looked at her larger partner. "For the umpteenth time, Roddy: I'm fine! You don't have to hover around me like a mother hen and you don't have to keep in constant contact with me!"   
Her voice had a harsh ring to it, but right now, Shanygn was very much annoyed with the Autobot's second-in-command. Ever since she had been released from med bay and allowed to move around, Rodimus had been shadowing her, keeping the Interface link open and generally making a nuisance out of himself. Shanygn was getting better day by day; she did her exercises, she went to the medical examinations and she didn't stress herself. The only stress factor in her life was a certain Autobot.   
"Oh," Rodimus muttered in a subdued voice, looking caught and a bit ashamed.   
She sighed. [Listen, Roddy, you have to accept that a flesh body is more vulnerable and takes a longer time to heal. I know you know it, but you have to accept it!]   
[I accepted it!] he protested.   
[No, you didn't. You are used to instant repairs or shorter recuperation times, not weeks of healing] She smiled at his expression. [I might have the same life expectancy as you do because we are linked, but I'm not a robot]   
[Of course not!]   
Shanygn laughed at the shocked tone of voice. Rodimus smiled as well.   
[Optimus told me to get a vacation....]   
Shanygn raised an eyebrow. [Any special place?]   
He hesitated.   
[Where do you want to go?] she prodded gently. [Cybertron?]   
Rodimus shrugged. [Haven't been there for a very long time.....]   
[Because you hung out with me for the last weeks!]   
He grinned sheepishly.   
[And Sil is there] Shanygn added as if in an after thought.   
Rodimus looked caught again, then shook his head. [That's not the reason....]   
Shanygn laughed out aloud. [It is! Confess it! And I wouldn't mind going to Cybertron!]   
The young Autobot appeared rather relieved. "Okay," he said aloud.   
"When do you want to leave?"   
He shrugged. "ASAP."   
Shanygn nodded. "Okay, I'll get packed. I might just find Chip up there somewhere and we can haunt the library files together."   
Rodimus grimaced theatrically at her definition of relaxation and fun, though Shanygn had the same reckless streak he had sometimes and loved racing, then both of them walked off.

* * *

Springer walked through the empty and ancient base, finally coming into a room that looked like a lab. He had not found any security systems or hidden traps and he guessed that the passworded door was the only obstacle left. All the other systems had most likely shut down or had been deinstalled. On his way he hadn't discovered anything interesting either. Several living quarters, a storage room -- empty --, and now this room. It looked like a lab and as he entered the room, he knew it had been one. There were empty test racks, filing cabinets, a dark screen of a computer terminal and a vault. Springer walked over to the vault and studied the key pad. It was ancient but it looked ready to break. He touched it and the first layer of material crumbled under his touch.   
"Geez, how old is this place!" he muttered.   
The triple-changer rammed his fingers into the brittle lock and broke it. The vault's door swung open.   
The vault was mostly empty, as was the base as such, and the few remaining artifacts inside were several small cylinders. Springer picked one up and studied it. The cylinder was barely as long as his hand and the writing on it had faded into obscurity. Whatever had been printed on the surface, he couldn't read it anymore. He shortly debated what to do, then unscrewed the lid. It stuck a bit and he applied more force. With a scratching sound, the lid moved.   
There was a hiss, then something exploded out of the small container, enveloping Springer. He coughed, waving the cloud of dust aside. As it settled, he looked into the container. There was nothing inside.   
"Probably just some old cylinders," he muttered and tossed it aside. "There is nothing in here at all."   
Springer shrugged and then walked out of the vault, trailing a bit of the dust.

* * *

Spellbinder had his scanners on full and did another sweep of the area while Kayla was busy checking on what they had found so far. It was nothing out of the ordinary, except for the amount of debris floating around here. Suddenly Spellbinder's sensors beeped.   
"What?" she wanted to know.   
"I'm no sure. I found a strange ion trail...."   
"Strange? In what way?"   
Spellbinder ran another check. "It is similar in many ways to the one we have from the Hive fortress, but there are differences."   
Kayla called up the scans and frowned. "Can you trace it?"   
"Sure can." Spellbinder veered off to the left and increased speed.   
His Interface partner called in their change of position and then concentrated on the scans.

* * *

Sphere was already expecting Riverdance and she greeted her with a smile.   
"Already off shift?" Riv teased.   
Sphere pulled a face. "Don't mention it. Perceptor is insatiable and luckily we still have Raven to help out as a Key when I'm not available. Geez, I don't know my own name anymore!"   
Riverdance chuckled. In her first days with the allied forces she had also been introduced to not only Sphere and the other doorway team, but also to the doorway itself.   


Riverdance had to say she was impressed. The doorway chamber was like nothing she had ever seen before. She stepped inside and looked curiously around, noting every detail, something that was so much in her normal behavior that she couldn't suppress it at all. The chamber was rather large and it had to be since it accommodated those two large structures, the centerway.   
"Welcome," Starscream greeted her with a fine smile.   
She noticed the second robot in the chamber. It was a female robot, but wearing neither a Decepticon or Autobot symbol but something more in the league with the second symbol Starscream had. The female was the strangest she had ever seen, mainly because of the mass of white hair spilling over her shoulders and down her back. Green, almond shaped eyes regarded Riverdance curiously, but there was also wary suspicion there. Riverdance believed that she would be able to take her out quite quickly if push came to shove. The female showed no outward signs of being a warrior.   
"Who is your friend?" Riverdance asked.   
"Raya, meet Sphere, my team mate and sister."   
"Sister?" Riverdance exclaimed. "Who do you think to fool with that? You never had a sister, Starscream!"   
Starscream smiled slightly. "Not before my rebirth," he agreed. "Sphere was created by the same entity that gave me a new body."   
"I see." She looked at the other female, clearly not convinced by what Starscream had said. "What does this symbol mean?" she asked her.   
"I'm a Key," Sphere answered with a smile and an amused light danced in her emerald optics. "I can open and align doorways. And you can believe Screamer: I'm his sister. Nothing more, nothing less."   
"And a royal pain in the diodes," Starscream muttered.   
"Aw, shove it up your exhausts!" she shot back.   
Riverdance blinked a bit and watched Sphere return to a quartz cube, which was glowing softly. Something flew into the room and Riverdance watched a black bird transform into another female, wearing the same insignia as Sphere. The black female gave Riverdance a curious look, then joined Sphere. Both set to work on one thing or other.   
"Let's take a walk," Starscream said and guided her out of the chamber.   
"Who was that?" the female Decepticon inquired.   
"Her name is Raven. She belongs to the First Race, those created before Cybertron came to be. And she's the only original Key left. Raven is on the same team as Nightmare, the Gatekeeper of the second team."   
Riverdance sighed and shook her head. "This is all so complicated. I never thought there would be so many changes when Optimus said things were different now. But there are!"   
Starscream nodded. "There are a lot of changes, yes."   


And she still didn't know them all, Riverdance guessed.   
Chromia entered. "Hey, girls, ready for some fun time?"   
"You bet," Sphere muttered. "Anything to get out of here!"   
"Then follow me!" Chromia transformed into her car mode.   
Sphere followed swiftly, transforming as well. Like Riverdance, she had an animal transformation and the silverish white and light blue, winged horse galloped after the Cybertronian car. Riverdance took off in her bat mode and shot after them.   
Fun was something she was looking forward to.

Half an hour later their shuttle left Cybertron for a short trip to Earth.

* * *

Springer met Cyclonus back in the main control room, as he thought of the chamber. Several of the terminals and computer banks were now lit and Cyclonus was busy pulling down data from the hard drives.   
"Found anything?" the Decepticon asked, not even looking up.   
Springer shook his head. "Nope, nothing. It's empty. You?"   
Cyclonus growled something. "No," he then said. "Nothing of interest anyway. The complete base files were erased, except for a map and the defense grid."   
"Defense? I encountered no defenses!"   
Cyclonus looked up with disgust in his optics. "That's because I shut them down, Autobot."   
"Oh." Springer shrugged. "So, what about the map. Does it show anything of interest?"   
"No. The base is small and runs deep, but all the lower levels are almost destroyed. There is a vault marked as important, nothing else though."   
"I found the vault. Nothing in it." Cyclonus frowned and Springer added, "Except for a few old cylinders or containers. They were empty."   
"You unscrewed them?" Cyclonus asked, voice dangerous.   
"Hey, I told you they were empty! And they looked harmless enough," Springer defended himself. "And it was the only one."   
Cyclonus' optics glowed deep red. "This is a Decepticon base. Nothing here is either harmless or left behind without purpose. Show them to me!"   
Springer bit down a sharp reply. He hated taking orders from a Decepticon, but since they were allies and Cyclonus was, in effect, a superior, he chewed down his reply and turned, walking back down the corridor he had taken before. Cyclonus followed, gun ready.   
As they neared the room, Springer felt a strange sensation running through him and for a second he was dizzy, but it came and went so fast, he wasn't even sure he had felt anything at all. Maybe it had been a small glitch. He was due for a check-up anyway, so this might just be a sign not to postpone it any longer.   
They entered the room and Springer gestured at the open vault, turning to Cyclonus as he did so. "There...." He stopped and stared.   
Cyclonus had changed. He still looked the same, but his formerly silver and purple body was now covered by a fine, grayish film. Springer blinked, but the picture stayed the same. Cyclonus walked past him toward the vault and Springer felt panic rise inside of him.   
The Tji!   
They had taken over!   
He had to act! The triple-changer raised his gun while a small voice protested that this was not right. How could the Tji have come here? To Cybertron? Ralyk would have warned them! There were shields all around the planet and surely an alarm would have sounded! But what if they had found a way to infiltrate without alerting everyone?   
Springer groaned silently at the implications. This was terrible! He had to stop this Tji right here and now, and the only way to do it was to destroy the host body. Cyclonus was already dead because of the take-over, so he would only obliterate a dead shell. The green Autobot let one finger hover over the trigger, then set the gun to the highest setting and he pulled the trigger.   
Cyclonus was hit in the back and thrown forward against the partly open vault door. His systems screeched and a damage report scrolled past his inner eye, but he ignored it and rolled around, gun rising to fire at the enemy. He only saw Springer and the expression on the Autobot's face was everything but malicious. He looked stricken and as if he didn't really want to do what he had just done: shoot at an ally.   
"What is the meaning of this, Autobot?" he demanded.   
Springer's face twisted. "You will die, Tji, that is the meaning of this!" he cried and fired once again.   
This time Cyclonus could evade the blast, but only barely. Tji? What was going on? Why did Springer suddenly attack him?   
The Decepticon decided that the answers could wait because a new shower of blasts pounded his cover, which was nothing but an overturned table. The blasts stopped as quickly as they had begun and Cyclonus checked the area. The room was empty. After scanning some more and finding nothing, he emerged. Springer was gone.   
"What is happening here?" he growled.   
This time he got an answer. Something slammed into him -- through him! -- and pinned him to the other wall. Cyclonus' systems overloaded his damage report and his nervous endings screamed agony and pain. Fluids spilled out of the ripped tubes and formed an ever-growing puddle on the floor. The Decepticon managed to turn around and his optics fixed on Springer, whose expression was one of pain and determination.   
"It's over, Tji!" he hissed. "You lost! You won't get this body shell!"   
Cyclonus' brain couldn't make sense of it. Tji? Why? Then it was once again flooded with pain. Springer's weapon, a short, but arm thick pole, had penetrated his mid-section and had ripped open a considerable amount of pumps, circuits and tubes. With a last gurgle, his main fluid pump shut down and he felt himself fade. His body crashed to the floor and his optics darkened.   
He didn't feel Springer grab his unresponsive body.   
He didn't see him pull down the corridor.   
He didn't hear the creak of the chute door.   
And mercifully, he wasn't aware of his body tumbling down the deep chute into nothingness and slam onto the floor far, far below.

* * *

"Will you look at that!" Spellbinder exclaimed.   
Kayla did and gaped at what she was seeing, just like her partner. It was an old space port, but not old enough to be called ancient. It had probably been here for several hundred years and been abandoned or claimed by conquerors later on. Nothing moved outside and nothing seemed to alive inside. All the running lights, flood lights and position lights were out. The whole structure was dark and floated through space. But it didn't look like it had been left such a long time ago. Spellbinder was flying cautious circles around it and as they came to the dry dock they could see fresh marks. Something had docked here and since they had followed an ion trail they knew, both had a pretty good idea what it might be.   
"Let's take a closer look," his Interface decided.   
Spellbinder closed the distance and she initiated a scan. True enough, most of the dry dock's clamps had fresh scratches and abrasions from usage. There were also burn marks from a blast off and some of the hatchways were open.   
"Wanna risk a peek?" Spellbinder asked.   
Kayla shrugged. "Why not."   
The Sentinel transformed, with Kayla phasing into him, and then landed on the outer platform. He walked over to the first open hatch and found it was leading to he main work area inside the dry dock. Spellbinder sought out the computer control and activated them. While he hacked into the system, Kayla kept an eye on the early warning system, giving him the chance to concentrate on his job and not diverting his attention between his task and the alarm system.   
"Erased," Spellbinder sighed after a while. "Nothing but a few directories left."   
"Anything of use?" Kayla asked.   
"Nope. All I can deduct from it, is that this station was used not so long ago to build or rebuild something."   
"Scorponok."   
"Most likely. Archer inflicted considerable damage." Spellbinder's voice grew hesitant with the last words. Mike and Archer's deaths still weighed heavily on the small group of Sentinels and none would ever forget why Archer had blown himself up in enemy hands -- after deliberately getting caught.   
"They made repairs, erased their data files and left," Kayla mused. "We should get the data stored and back to Cybertron. Maybe one of those computer wizards can read something else out of it, something more."   
Spellbinder agreed and copied what he could find. Then they left the space port again, shooting away from it and toward the next warp gate.

* * *

Calamity trudged through the corridors fuming with anger. It was a superficial anger, not running very deep and most likely to evaporate around the next few corners, but still -- it would be better not to get into her way right now. But someone did get into her way.   
"What do you want?" she snarled, walking on.   
"Give you a hand," was the calm reply.   
"I don't need help!" Cal spat. "Tell Tas I also don't need a baby-sitter!"   
Chaos sighed. "Tas didn't send me. I simply had nothing better to do than to accompany you on a spying mission. Is this so hard to believe?"   
Cal eyed her. "Yeah."   
Chaos chuckled. "Okay, so I wanted some time away from the lab. I can't stand it anymore and if I don't get some distance between me and those test racks, Disaster will feature a few more dents the next time he comes visiting."   
Cal chuckled despite her annoyance. Disaster, beside the fact that he was a very skilled and dangerous warrior, also had a scientific streak which let him bury himself in a lab for days -- if not dragged out for recharge. Most of the time Chaos was with him and the two talked tech to the hilt. Cal never understood what was so fascinating about sciences. She knew they needed the knowledge, the expertise, but she rather smashed something. Preferably something big and something that fought back. She didn't care whether it was a Decepticon or an Autobot. An enemy was an enemy.   
"So we got visitors?" Chaos now asked.   
Calamity nodded. "Looks like they finally managed to break into the base. I wish they hadn't."   
Chaos shot her a curious look. "I thought you'd be looking forward to some action."   
"Not up there," Cal told her seriously. "This lab is off limits and even I respect that." She gave her friend a wry grin.   
The female Autobot nodded. "I know. So what do we do when they engage us?"   
Cal materialized her gun, which was not exactly standard issue. "Then I'll introduce them to us anyway."   
Chaos suddenly stopped, her eyes growing wider. "And you can start right away, though I think this introduction will be brief."   
Calamity followed her gaze and stopped as well. In front of them, not very far away, lay a robot. A puddle of differently colored liquids surrounded him and his back was badly burned. But the worst was the beam he was impaled on. Chaos looked up and toward where an old chute ended just above them.   
"He fell through there, straight from the lab area."   
Cal nodded darkly. "Think he's infected?"   
"Only one way to find out." She walked cautiously over to the motionless form, activating the medical sensors in her left arm. She let her hand hover over him, all the time aware of the other female guarding her back, gun pointed at the stranger. "Geez...." she muttered after some time. "It's a miracle he's still functioning!"   
"Not infected?" Calamity wanted to know.   
"No, but the damage is rather severe."   
"Then let's get out of here."   
Chaos looked up sharply. "I won't leave him here, Cal!"   
The other one shot her a cold look. "But I will. He's a danger to us!"   
Chaos activated her com link, calling base camp. Calamity turned away in disgust and stalked down to the end of the corridor, though she kept close enough in case the stranger woke and was a danger after all.

* * *

Ath'antheia was pleased. After their delay through the suicide run of the Sentinel, they were finally back on the way -- to conquer. He turned to Katalumera.   
"Tell the second base to begin," he said briskly.   
She nodded and contacted the second fortress, the one which had been built after this one. Ath'antheia continued to study the star chart and their first, real target. Until today they had only hit randomly, trying to take over a doorway planet, which had always failed. The space station had equally been no success, though he believed that they had unsettled Ralyk enough to strike without immediate retaliation -- if they played their cards well. And currently, the Tji were playing very well. Ath'antheia wasn't a gambler, but right now he was playing high. If they failed to pull this off, the Cybertronians would find them easily and maybe even win another victory. But if he had placed the right bets, this strike would further demoralize them.   
He smiled darkly in his body shell.

* * *

The man stopped momentarily when had passed the iron gates to the cemetery. His eyes drifted over to the small hill where a service was held right now. It was a small cemetery compared to others, with a lot of high and old trees growing between the gravestones, and the green was well kept. The cluster of mourners departed into small groups and went toward the cars parked outside the cemetery. Only a few people remained, but they drifted away soon as well.   
Lt. Col. Jefferson Winters, Navy pilot, approached a grave not very far away from the mourning site of another family, steps heavy. He was dressed in his old uniform, wearing a long, black coat, eyes hidden behind sunglasses. He stopped at the small mound of fresh earth and his eyes fixed on the simple headstone.   
Megan Winters. Dedicated mother and wife.   
Tears burned in his eyes and he bit them down as the white-washed stone displayed those accusing letters to him.   
"Hi, Meg," he whispered. "I'm so sorry....."   
He bit his lower lip and felt something touch him soothingly inside his mind, using a link that was special and treasured. Wild Card had been unable to come along, mainly because Jeff didn't want him to. This was something he had to do alone. And then there was the fact that Wild Card was awfully big and Winters didn't want to attract any attention. If someone saw his partner here and investigated this curiosity.... They'd find out that Jefferson Winters had not disappeared, presumed dead, but was very much alive.   
Jeff inhaled deeply.   
Yes, he was dead to all the world. His body had never been found but there had been enough evidence and he had been declared officially dead. Meg had taken it hard, though they had been divorced, and the kids .... He didn't want to think about his children. Jeff Winters had been married to Megan for over ten years and he still loved her like on the very first day. True, she had finally wished for a divorce because she couldn't keep up with his life in the Navy, but they had not parted in anger. He had visited regularly and they had even spent vacations together. Then there had been the terrible accident that had scarred him for life and which had forced him to resign from active duty. He had planned to devote more time to his family, but then Wild Card had happened.   
A lot had changed for Jeff. He was now linked to a robot partner, sharing his 'immortality', and wouldn't age as long as the link existed -- which could mean forever. At the time of the joining he had not realized the implications, but with time, the facts had surfaced. He couldn't go back. He couldn't see his wife age and die, his kids have kids of their own and die as well, while he stayed the same.   
It was like in one of those sci-fi movies, he had thought, when it had been revealed to him. But it was no fantasy, no one's imagination. It was real and it isolated him a lot. He couldn't fall in love ever again because he'd have to see her die; he didn't want it. And he couldn't have kids because he'd surpass them by millennia. He had talked to Jill about it, the only of the Interfaces who had started a relationship when she was already Interfaced and it had shocked him to hear her story. She had survived her partner and next four generations, and in the stories and legends of this particular tribe, she was like a goddess. Her husband had known about her longevity and had accepted it, as had her children, but now that they were all dead, she was a myth among her own kind.   
Jeff sighed deeply. He didn't want that. He had come back for only one reason: to say good-bye to his wife.   
Megan had died of cancer, as he had found out, and he wished he had had time to say good-bye to her in person. He had wanted to see her one last time, but it had been denied to him. He had been caught up in Cybertron and Sentinel affairs. It had been pure coincidence he had heard of Meg's death at all. She had grown to be sixty-three. Jeff hated to think of his children who were no longer children but parents of a new generation. He was a grand-dad, who would one day be nothing but an ancient ancestor -- still alive.   
The sky was growing dark and the cemetery was empty. He would have to leave soon. Jeff bit his lip, knowing that returning might not be an option. He had to severe the last of his ties.   
Wild Card's presence was now stronger and he leaned heavily upon his support. The Sentinel tried to understand what this meant to a human and he had felt guilty when Jeff had explained to him why he felt this way. He still felt guilty, Winters knew, and he'd have to devote some time talking to his partner, but the feeling would pass.   
"One day we'll be together," he said softly, voice laced with unshed tears. "One way or the other."   
Then he turned and walked back down, not looking back.   
His past was past.   
Jefferson Winters, Lt. Colonel, Navy pilot, status inactive, was dead.   
Jeff Winters, Sentinel Interface partner to Wild Card, lived on.

* * *

Springer approached South Port without meeting anyone else, his mind awhirl with what had happened. The Tji were here! And he knew it! He had to tell one of the Council before they were taken over and he had to get to them fast. The only way was to play it safe in case the Tji had already started to infiltrate South Port as well and so he entered through one of the back doors, the ones used by the space port personnel. He quickly passed by the storage facilities for shuttle and ship parts and ended up in one of the smaller hangars. One shuttle was just coming in and he had to stop or he would have run straight into its flight path. As it touched down, Springer crossed the landing field.   
Arcee and Daniel exited the shuttle, talking to each other. Daniel was in his official uniform and carrying a small folder.   
Springer froze.   
No!   
This couldn't be!   
He blinked, but the picture stayed. Arcee's whole body was covered by a fine, gray film.   
She as well!   
But why didn't Daniel see it? Didn't he hear or see the difference? No Tji could copy an Autobot's personality! Maybe.... Springer groaned. Maybe they had also found a way to influence humans not to see the change. Or they had found a method to turn humans into their slaves as well.   
His hand closed around his gun and as he aimed at his best and closest friend, something inside of him screamed not to do it. But he couldn't let them have Arcee's body shell. No one would violate her!   
He pulled the trigger.

* * *

"I'll be back in about a week."   
Carly Witwicky crossed her arms in front of her chest. "You retired, remember? You no longer have to run back and forth between conferences!" Anger swung in her voice and her blue eyes didn't even try to hide how cheated she felt.   
Spike sighed deeply. "It's not a conference, it's just a short visit to Nebulos, okay? Darling, the Nebulans won't listen to anyone anymore and it's a big step that they want to let me set foot on their planet! We have to take this chance! It's handed to us on a silver platter."   
"Daniel is the liaison to Nebulos, Spike, not you. You never were!" Carly protested.   
Her husband nodded. "I know, I know, but I was one of those they trusted first. I worked with them and the Autobots. And Daniel is busy as well. He and Kim have been traveling back and forth between various worlds for the last months. He deserves a break."   
Carly sighed. "Okay, okay, you have to go!"   
Spike approached the woman he loved. "The former Targetmaster Nebulans worked hard for it and Firebolt told me that if we don't go, there will be no second chance. It would mean so much to Brainstorm and the others! Carly, I promise it's the last time. "   
She grimaced. "You always say that, Spike. Next time it's another crisis and you go off again. How long do you want to continue doing a job you have dropped? How long do you want to play mediator? Spike, you have lived your life for the Autobots! When do you live it for yourself and your family?" With that she turned and walked out of the room.   
Spike closed his eyes, knowing she was right. He had always been with the Autobots, had helped, mediated, talked. Both his children had grown up and he didn't know when he had really spent some family time. Daniel was deeply involved with the liaison business as well and Mel -- well, she had her own rank and position within the Autobot society. But he had to do this. It might be the only chance they had to convince the Nebulan government that the Autobots' presence on their planet wasn't a danger factor.   
He finished packing and then turned to search for Carly to say good-bye.

* * *

The fleet was now near completion and Megatron surveyed the last works on the flag ships with pride. It had been a load of work to round up every battle ship in Cybertronian possession and then reconstruct, reconfigure or simply repair it. The Seekers had 'donated' two of their own ships and the Sentinels had helped come up with the necessary parts to do what had to be done. It wasn't man power, it was parts they had lacked at first. Now.... well, now Cybertron had an impressive fleet, consisting of Decepticon and Autobot technology, merged with Seeker and Sentinel input.   
"Flag ship ready for test run," Shockwave reported.   
Megatron nodded. "Then let's take a flight."   
He walked over to the main hatch, looking at the giant ship in front of him. Her name was Apocalypse. She had a faint likeness to the former Decepticon flag ship, but only a faint one. With her dark blue color and dimmed running lights she could be almost invisible to the naked optic in space and several of the scientists had worked on getting a cloaking device up on-line. It wasn't working perfectly yet because of the major power drain, but it showed promise. Some of the Decepticons were already inside and firing up the engines. A low hum passed through the structure.   
Not far away lay another ship, equally as gigantic as the Apocalypse and also laid out as a flag ship, but she was colored in a simple gray. Her name was Monolith, equipped with a bit more experimental technology and a larger holding bay for smaller battle units. Monolith was a few weeks from completion and had had several test runs already. The final one would be after the dry dock had been removed.   
"Looks good," a voice commented from the ground level and Megatron looked down. It was Sparks.   
He grimaced slightly. He hadn't been able to get rid of the cat and she stuck to him like glue. Not even locking her in a storage unit had helped. Now she sauntered over to the entrance.   
"What are you waiting for?" she called.   
Megatron squelched some thoughts about skinning, scrapping and recycling cats, then followed.   
A few minutes later the flag ship departed.

* * *

Cyclonus was coming back on line slowly and painfully. His systems check produced a long list of malfunctions or complete shutdown, most of them concerning his weapons systems as well as communication. He got his visual back and audio followed swiftly.   
"He's a Decepticon!" someone close by said. It was a female voice and it was angry.   
"So?" a male voice answered calmly.   
"So there will be more of them and you know what will follow!"   
There was a sigh. "Calm down, Cal. He is unable to contact his friends or allies or whatever and I doubt he is a one-robot kamikaze assault team. No leader would send such a wreckage down here."   
The female hissed angrily, then there were steps, fading away. She had left.   
"You can come back completely on-line now," the male voice said.   
Cyclonus let his optics light up and was greeted by something dark looming over him. He was lying on a repair table.   
"Who are you?" he asked, his voice rather stable, wondering how the other had known he had been awake.   
"My name is Disaster," the robot introduced himself.   
Cyclonus got a better look at his 'host'. The robot was tall, about his own size, and colored in anthracite and black. Red optics glowed out of a grayish silver face and ... Cyclonus stopped and blinked.   
"You are a Decepticon," he stated levely.   
Disaster looked at the rather faded looking symbol on his chest. "Yes, in a way," he answered, shrugging. "Theoretically would describe it best."   
Cyclonus tried to sit up and managed so without pulling something or inflicting more damage. Someone had repaired him, though it was a lot of patchwork, but, recalling how damaged he had been before, well done. "Theoretically?"   
Before Disaster could answer, another robot entered. It was a female, equally tall, but not as tall as Disaster, and she was colored in a very dark red, black and silver. An Autobot symbol was tattooed on each shoulder armor.   
"I see our guest has reactivated," she said.   
From her voice Cyclonus knew she wasn't the one who had spoken to Disaster about him.   
"My name is Catastrophe," she introduced herself. "I'm the leader of this group."   
He frowned. "You are an Autobot."   
"Quite perceptive," she answered with a smile. "And you are ...."   
"Cyclonus," the Decepticon second told her.   
"I never heard of you," Disaster said thoughtfully. "You can't be one of the old ones."   
Cyclonus frowned. "Who are you? What is going on here? Where am I?" He slid off the table, though his equilibrium was acting up and he was far from ssecure on his feet.   
"We already told you our names," Catastrophe said, voice so reassuring calm that Cyclonus relaxed a bit. Then he saw the Autobot symbol again and tensed. He guessed they were underground fighters and so he had to be careful, but why were Decepticons working together with Autobots? "As to what is going on, I think you should first tell us what happened to you and who did this damage. I have a theory, a rather bad one, but I want to hear your story first. And the last question will be answered later."   
With that the Autobot turned and walked out. Disaster smiled at Cyclonus and gestured him to follow. Cyclonus hesitated for a second, then he did.

* * *

Rodimus was walking down the corridor, Shanygn at his side. He just wanted to check in with Prime, then leave for a few days of exploration and fun, and hopefully no crisis at all. He had contacted Sil, who was with her brothers, the Dinobots, and she had promised to meet with him when he came back. She had an assignment and he knew it was important.   
They turned a corner and suddenly ran straight into Springer. The green triple-changer stared at them, then his optics widened in shock.   
"Not you too!" he exclaimed in horror and desperation.   
"Huh?" was all Rodimus managed, then he had to jump out of the way because Springer had materialized his gun and was blasting his way.   
Shanygn had jumped to the other side and was now looking for cover. But there was none. This part of the corridor was empty and the next room was several feet -- Autobot-sized feet -- away.   
"Springer!" Rodimus shouted. "What are you doing?!"   
Springer's face had a pained expression, but his optics were glowing with a feverish determination of someone set on his task. His gun swiveled toward Rodimus once more and fired continuously. Rodimus dodged some of the blasts, but two hit home and he went to his knees with a hiss of pain.   
"You won't get this body!" Springer called.   
"Springer, what is going on?" Rodimus asked in bewilderment. He couldn't bring himself to shoot back. Springer was his friend, an old friend, and he couldn't simply gun him down! But this might be the only way to stop him from inflicting more damage. He materialized his gun.   
"How do you know my name?!" Springer cried and began to fire wildly once more.   
Rodimus jumped away, painfully aware of his burned shoulder and thigh. There was no cover in this corridor and another shot hit him square in the chest. He was thrown back down the length of the corridor and lay there for a second, stunned. Suddenly he saw Shanygn, who was trying to get out of the way of the rampaging triple-changer. And Springer saw her as well.   
"If he was taken over, you were as well!" Springer cried.   
Shan's eyes widened. "Springer....."   
The gun leveled at her.   
"No!" Rodimus shouted, too far away to jump Springer. And he couldn't shoot because he might hurt Shanygn!   
Panic spread inside of him, his mind flashing back to a day not so long ago.   
Springer's trigger finger curled.   
The panic ignited more panic. [Jump!] Rodimus yelled frantically.   
Everything happened within a split second.   
Shanygn looked at him, meeting his bright blue optics.   
She closed her eyes and concentrated.   
And then she initiated the Gating process that would take her to Rodimus. It was draining his power supplies because she didn't have that much of her own to get into a Gate, set a course and then travel along the myriad of guiding lines to her target.   
Rodimus felt the faint tug the moment she locked onto him and his energon level sank by five percent, something that wasn't affecting him that greatly.   
But then something else hit. It was a faint tickle at first, then became a burning, then a sizzle. Rodimus' optics widened, his mouth opening to scream. He touched his chest plate and staggered back.   
[Sha -- nygn.......]   
A scream echoed through him, one that wasn't his own.   
His world went white.

* * *

Cyclonus looked at the assembled robots and tried to make sense of it. There were three Autobots, two of them female, and two Decepticons present in the large room he had been led to. The room didn't look like some underground refuge but more like a high tech lab with doors leading away, deeper into whatever place he was in. Of the five he knew only Catastrophe, the female leader, and Disaster, of whom he only knew that he was a Decepticon. The second male was an Autobot as well, a brightly green and dark blue colored individual with a flaming pattern on his chest and arms. He was leaning against the wall. The female Decepticon shot him wary and suspicious looks and the second female Autobot simply looked alert.   
"This is my team," Catastrophe introduced them. "You know Disaster already. Meet Calamity," the female Con said nothing, "Chaos," the female Autobot simply nodded, "and Overload." The male Autobot tapped his temple in a greeting.   
"Who are you?" Cyclonus asked.   
Catastrophe smiled. "Survivors. We've been down here ever since the ships with Megatron and Optimus Prime became missing."   
Cyclonus stared at her. That had been .....millennia ago. "I never heard of you, even before."   
"And we never heard of you," Disaster said calmly. "You can't be very old or you changed your name."   
"The latter," Cyclonus muttered, reluctant to talk about the change he had been forced to undergo by Unicron. "It was not voluntary." Not at all.   
Disaster apparently got the hint and didn't press on.   
"Now," Catastrophe went on, "what we'd like to know is: what happened up in the base?"   
"You know about the base?"   
She smiled slightly. "Of course. We had an eye on it and I always thought the encoded door would make an entry impossible. I see I was wrong."   
Cyclonus looked at her through narrowed optics. "There is nothing up there to guard..."   
Calamity snorted.   
"What happened?" Chaos now asked.   
Cyclonus glared at her. "I want to know who and what exactly I'm dealing with here!" he hissed. "You are Autobots, some are Decepticons, and you are underground. What is the meaning of this?!"   
"Told ya we should have left him," Calamity muttered and shot Chaos an acid look. "Cons are too much trouble."   
"You are a Con," Overload pointed out.   
Calamity shot him an acid look as well. "Shut up, hot bot."   
Catastrophe gave the two a silencing look and they indeed shut up, though Calamity still glared and Overload smirked her way.   
"It's a story you might not find believable," the team leader then said.   
"Try me," Cyclonus growled. He wished he were completely charged, but as it was, he was rather weak.   
"None of us choose to be here," Catastrophe said slowly. "We were forced down here by circumstances beyond our control and neither of us can return to their respective kind anymore. My history is a short one. I was destined to be part of an all-female combiner team which never came to existence."   
Cyclonus' optics widened. All female? A combiner?!   
"My friends were all destroyed, except Chaos, here. Dazzler and DownDraft are dead, Backdraft presumed missing. The combiner was an experiment by Aleeta One in the early years of the war, but a Decepticon attack destroyed the project. Chaos and I fled from the attacker and were cut off from the rest. We never rejoined the female Autobots."   
"Why?"   
Catastrophe shrugged. "One reason was that they all went into hiding. We had a hard time tracking them down. Then we ran into the others present here." She looked at Disaster.   
The almost black Decepticon nodded, eyes as calm as his voice. "Like Catastrophe and Chaos, I was part of a combiner as well. You never heard of us because it was a secret project with one major failure: they never found a way to combine our minds. We were far too different and when one left to escape reprogramming for the good of the Decepticon cause, the team split. Redesigning another warrior would have taken too long and the war was breaking out full force. Several attacks and bombings left me and Calamity stranded in the Inner Maze and we survived -- just barely. I'm not sure how long it took for us to go back on-line and how long we just lay there, wishing for death, but it was long. When I was finally back enough to be aware of my surroundings, Tas and Chaos had found us."   
Catastrophe nodded. "And we went through hell for a long time, having to rely on each other to survive the Maze. When we finally surfaced, it had taken us too long to grow together to split apart now. And then we ran into Overload."   
The Autobot grinned and Cyclonus somehow had the feeling that this was the youngest of the team, though he was old in Cybertronian terms.   
"And I joined," he said.   
"Yeah, much to everyone's dismay," Calamity growled.   
He grinned broadly at her and she managed to look disgusted.   
"And we became more," Tas said calmly. "We had to become more to continue surviving. None of us could go back and we had been together too long to go separate ways. We knew each other, individual traits, quirks, notions.... so we decided to go one step further."   
Cyclonus didn't understand.   
Catastrophe nodded at her team. "Let's show him what he's facing, guys!"   
The five robots transformed, shifting parts, and shot toward each other in a way Cyclonus recognized: they were combining. His mouth dropped open as he watched them forming a giant robot. It just barely fit into the high-ceilinged room. Red eyes looked down on him with an almost amused expression and the hooded head tilted. There was no mouth. And the combiner was definitely a female.   
"Meet..... Havoc," a deep, pleasant and also clearly female voice said calmly.

* * *

Optimus Prime was on his way to his office when he heard gun fire. He exchanged a quick look with Jazz who was accompanying him, then both started to run toward the source of the gun fire. Prime skidded to a halt with Jazz nearly bumping into him a few seconds later. What they saw let their energon freeze.   
Springer stood over a prone and apparently unconscious Rodimus Prime, gun leveled at his head. There was a feverish light in Springer's eyes and his hand was shaking. When he heard them, he looked up, optics widening.   
"Not all of you?!" he gasped, nearly choking on the words. His gun leveled at the two new-arrivals and Optimus jumped out of the way of the blast.   
"Springer, what are you doing?" he exclaimed.   
Springer cried, shaking his head. "No, no, no!"   
Jazz shot Optimus a confused look and his confusion transformed into shock as he saw Prime get his gun and aim at the triple-changer.   
"Springer, stop this!" the Autobot leader ordered.   
But Springer didn't stop.   
Prime had no other alternative. He fired.   
The shot went straight into Springer's upper left chest and threw him back against the corridor's wall. He shut down immediately, his body going limp. Optimus got to his feet and ran over to the green-and-silver robot,. checking him.   
"Call med bay!" he ordered and Jazz did.   
Then he turned to Rodimus.   
"Oh, no!" Prime exclaimed softly and quickly knelt down at his second's side.   
Jazz stayed where he was, but suddenly noted that there was another prone figure: Shanygn. She lay sprawled not far away from her partner.   
"Shany?" he whispered.   
Optimus' head whipped around and his optics darkened considerably. They had just barely survived an assassination attempt .... only to be killed by Springer for whatever reason?   
Jazz walked over to the unconscious humanoid and checked her, relief flooding his features when he discovered that she was still alive. Optimus allowed himself a bit of hope, then looked at his second again. Rodimus seemed to have simply broken down, judging from the way he lay on the floor. His optics were dead and his body showed several blaster injuries inflicted by Springer, but none life-threatening. Most of his outer skin was simply scorched, his thigh bruised and his chest punctured. The chest wound was the severest of them all, but still minor. He was just about to run a deeper scan when Rodimus' optics flickered to life. He groaned softly and his hands twitched.   
"Roddy?" Optimus asked softly.   
Rodimus' optics flickered a few more times, then started to glow softly. He groaned again, then his movements became more hectic. "Shan!" he whispered, nearly in panic. "Shanygn!"   
Optimus held him down, trying to calm him, but Rodimus was becoming frantic in is attempts to get up.   
"Shanygn is okay," Prime told his young second. "She's just knocked out. What happened?"   
Rodimus stared at him in bewilderment, then calmed down a bit, apparently establishing his Interface link. Optimus was never sure when they were closing in on each other, but he had learned to recognize certain signs.   
"Springer.... he simply attacked us. I don't know why...." He looked around and his optics fixed on the prone triple-changer. "What...?"   
"I had to shoot him," Optimus explained. "He was attacking us as well."   
That was the moment First Aid came around the corner, taking in the situation immediately. He walked over to Springer.   
Rodimus got to his feet with Optimus' help and staggered over to Shanygn, who was equally coming around, though she took a bit longer. Optimus watched his partner closely and saw his optics flash, his features twist in a question, and knew the two were active in the Interface department.   
"Let's get you to sick bay," he told him softly, keeping an eye on Springer, who was also guarded by Jazz.   
More Autobots were showing now, all with security, to check on what had happened. Kup was among them, looking grim. "Prime ...." Optimus didn't like the way he said it. "Is everyone all right?" Kup asked.   
Optimus glanced at his partner, who was busy with Shanygn but looking rather well, then nodded. "Why? What's going on, Kup?"   
"I have no idea," the security chief confessed, "but Springer also attacked Arcee and Daniel."   
"Anyone hurt?" Optimus asked immediately.   
Kup shook his head. "No, just a bit bruised. Daniel has a headache and Arcee a bit of chipped off paint. Nothing serious."   
Optimus looked at Springer, who was currently getting carried away, then back at Kup. "I want to know what's going on here!" he ordered.   
Kup nodded and followed the procession. Optimus turned to his second-in-command. "Let's get you to med bay to be checked," he said.   
Rodimus looked like he wanted to object, but then closed his mouth again. Shanygn was leaning heavily against the wall and he picked her up without a complaint coming from the blue-haired woman -- which showed how bad she felt. Normally she hated to be carried like a child. Both Autobot leaders followed the group guarding Springer, Optimus keeping a close eye on Rodimus.

* * *

Spellbinder was already expected by Midnight and Glacier, one of the Seekers who had a more or less permanent residence on Cybertron. Glacier, looking the absolute opposite to Midnight in his bright white coloring, nodded at the Sentinel as a greeting. He was a scientist and also a computer expert, though his battle skills were not to be underestimated.   
"Looks like trouble," Spellbinder commented as he gave the storage disk to the Seeker.   
Midnight sighed. "When wasn't something we found trouble?" He shrugged. "Let's get you debriefed and then wait for the data before calling in a meeting."   
Spellbinder nodded and followed his two friends. Glacier immediately went over to the elevators running deep into the planet where the labs and research facilities were located, while Midnight and Spellbinder walked to Mid's office for the debriefing.

* * *

Cyclonus was in absolute shock and tried to get his thoughts straightened out. A male-female combiner team! A mixed team of not only males and females, but also Autobots and Decepticons! It was unbelievable, but he had just seen it with his own eyes. All five had separated again, Overload grinning broadly at the dumbfound Decepticon visitor. Finally he pulled himself out of it and cleared his throat.   
"Impressive," he managed.   
Catastrophe smiled. "Thank you. Now that you know who and what you are dealing with, I'd like to have a few of my questions answered -- if you would be so kind."   
He hesitated once more, then relayed his tale to the five individuals whom he knew nothing of except their names, that they were combiner and apparently not inclined to kill him just now. They had saved his life and two of them were Decepticons -- theoretically, if he believed Disaster's words. There were few tensions between them as he could see. As second to Galvatron he had been always alert to tensions from the troops and he could read someone else pretty well -- except several individuals.   
"I see," Catastrophe muttered when he had finished. "That's what I was afraid of...."   
He stared at her, optics glowing deep red. "Afraid of what?" His voice had taken on a hard, cold edge. "You know what happened?"   
Catastrophe looked at Chaos. The red Autobot sighed.   
"What you have on your hands is a virus, developed by Decepticon scientists to eradicate Autobots by using them as hit men. The virus infects an individual and makes him or her believe that everyone else is the enemy. No one knows how the infected perceives the danger. Everyone has his or her own fears or horrors and the virus enhances this, brings it to the surfaces. The sick thing is, the infected thinks he or she is the only one unaffected, the only sane person left and that the others have to be released from their pain."   
"By killing them," Cyclonus muttered, several pieces of the puzzle falling into place. "He thought I had been taken over by a Tji....."   
"Tji?" Disaster echoed, but Cyclonus didn't answer. He was too deep in thought.   
"Is there an counter-virus?"   
Chaos shrugged. "Depends. The virus is not contagious but fixed on the first person it touches. Your friend won't spread the disease."   
Which was rather a relief, Cyclonus thought. "But there is an counter-virus?" he asked again.   
"Ye-es," Chaos answered slowly. "Like the virus, the counter-virus has to be specific, which made eradicating it or counteracting the effects too hard. You couldn't just spray the infected with the counter-virus. They had to be tested and the counter-virus had to be cut to their individual structure, their basis."   
"I understand." He frowned. "But you have the component necessary to initiate the process?"   
Chaos traded looks with Catastrophe. "Yes," she then said.   
"Will you give it to me?"   
Catastrophe looked very thoughtful. "Maybe."   
Cyclonus' optics flared and if he hadn't been so weak and unarmed, he would probably have slammed the female against the wall and demanded the counter-virus from her. "Why maybe?" His voice was icy cold.   
She smiled slightly. "First I want a few more questions answered."   
"Which ones?" His voice had dropped a few more degrees.   
"Concerning rumors about an alliance of Autobots and Decepticons......."

* * *

First Aid straightened from his work and turned to Optimus Prime, who stood in one corner of the med lab, trying not to impose, but making his presence known nevertheless. It was hard to ignore him in any way, starting from his size and ending with his sheer presence. Right now Optimus radiated worry like a beacon and First Aid knew he had every right to be worried. All of this was not normal and he wasn't even including Rodimus into it!   
"What is wrong with him?" Prime now asked quietly.   
"I wish there would be an easy answer, Optimus," First Aid started and saw dark clouds shadow Optimus' eyes. Just what the Autobot leader needed: a new problem. They had just solved one lately and the crisis around it had nearly cost Shanygn and Rodimus their lives. Now, peripherally, both had been involved again, though this time the bodily damage had occurred to Rodimus -- and it was minor enough -- and Shanygn had suffered a strange bout of unconsciousness. Skywolf was dealing with that problem and First Aid was thankful for it.   
"What is it, First Aid?"   
The Protectobot medic sighed. "I checked Springer's systems for a bug, but there is no foreign programming anywhere which would account for these changes. He is delirious to a degree that would suggest massive reprogramming, but there are no traces of foreign meddling. I went deeper and came upon something I can only call a virus."   
"Virus?"   
"Yes. It's something I've never seen before. It latches onto the core programming but is not perceived as an alien program or substance. If it would, the counter-virus programs would come into action. Nothing like it happened. The virus is accepted by the host and then starts to change the circuits and programs."   
"I thought you said there were no changes," Optimus objected.   
First Aid sighed. "No foreign changes. Springer's systems changed themselves."   
Optimus' frown deepened. "And now he thinks we are the enemy?"   
"I'm not sure what he thinks. I can only work from what I have heard about the encounters. Arcee told me he was yelling and ranting about Tji taking over her body, and he thought Daniel had been influenced by them. Rodimus mentioned something like it as well. Springer was going on about someone having taken over Rodimus' body."   
"But...." Optimus shook his head. "How could the virus make him believe that? Could it be a Tji weapon? Biological warfare?"   
First Aid shook his head. "No, I don't believe so. They would have infected not only Springer or so I believe. And how should they have brought the virus here? As far as I understand, Ralyk protects Cybertron."   
Optimus nodded, deep in thought. Suddenly his optics flashed. "Cyclonus!"   
"Pardon?"   
"Cyclonus was with Springer! I know it because Rodimus sent me a copy of the team lists for the exploration work. Both of them were supposed to be a team to explore an old and just recently discovered Decepticon base!"   
Both looked at each other, knowing what this implied: either Cyclonus had been infected as well or he had had an encounter with the mad Springer.   
"Is it contagious?" Prime now asked.   
"Not to my knowledge. I tested it, but it won't latch onto anything else. It's fixed onto Springer."   
Optimus sighed. "At least one positive side. Now, can we cure it?"   
First Aid shrugged. "I have to work on it. It might take some time. Skywolf restrained Springer and we have him under guard in case he starts rampaging, but I hope he won't. I don't want to put a clamp on his motion circuits."   
"So do I. In his state of mind, even the restraints are too much." Optimus rubbed his forehead. "Call me the second you have something .... anything."   
First Aid nodded and watched him walk over to one of the treatment rooms where Rodimus and Shanygn were examined by Skywolf, then he set to work.   


"I'm not sure what exactly happened," Skywolf said without preamble when Optimus was inside the room. Rodimus and Shanygn were present as well, Rodimus with a patched-up look. He still needed to get a repaint and some dents straightened out, but the blast wounds had been closed. "Your Interface circuits are strained beyond everything I ever saw, Rodimus, and it parallels nothing I know could happen to a Sentinel. Even Midnight's circuits looked better, and he Interfaced with such a force that it knocked him out. But I have enough experience with Interfacing to have a good guess."   
Rodimus looked shocked, his optics wide. "What do want to say? That we phased?"   
Skywolf smiled. "Yes."   
The young second's mouth opened then closed again. He looked at his humanoid partner, who had suddenly turned very pale, then stared at Skywolf. "That's absurd!" he blurted. "You know we can't do that! It's impossible to achieve!"   
"Apparently it happened. I noted that you strengthened your bond when Shanygn took you along on this voyage inside her mind and you most likely achieved one hundred percent throughout or after it, but you never phased. You have always approached this Interface from the opposite side, remember? You had the abilities before you could even communicate by mind link. Everything happened backwards. A few weeks ago you joined completely and now the phasing happened."   
Optimus tried to digest this. It wasn't really a shock, just a revelation and a surprise.   
"Something triggered this reaction and it originated from you, Rodimus," Skywolf went on.   
"Any idea what it was?" Optimus asked, surprised about how calm his voice was.   
"From what I've been told about the situation before it happened, it was most likely fear and a large amount of panic," the old Sentinel replied. "Shanygn was in danger, she used a Gate, homing in on Rodimus, and you did the rest, my young friend. Like every Interfaced robot, you are protective of your partner and both of you just survived major trauma. Your instinct took over and you phased Shanygn into you to keep her safe from Springer."   
Rodimus shook his head. "But Shanygn woke outside me...."   
Optimus frowned and recalled the scene as he had seen it when he had arrived. "She wasn't there when Jazz and I arrived, Rodimus. Jazz saw her later on and even though it puzzled me on a subconscious level that I didn't see her before, I was far too confused by the events around me."   
"You phased her out again," Skywolf added.   
Both Interface partners looked at each other. "I'm not sure what to feel," Rodimus muttered.   
"How about normal? Or happy? Or something positive?" Skywolf suggested with a smile. "You just completed the circle, Roddy."   
Rodimus smiled faintly. "Yeah." He was visibly shaken by it all and tried to pull himself together as he turned to Optimus. "What's the word on Springer? What happened to him."   
Optimus gave him a brief version of what First Aid had told him and when he mentioned Cyclonus, Rodimus looked as worried as Optimus felt.   
"You want to look for him?" he asked, though it was a rather rhetoric question.   
Optimus accepted the change of topic and nodded. "I'll send out someone to search the base. Perceptor and Mirage are already there to check on the virus. We have to inform the others and I know that Midnight wanted a meeting for this afternoon because of something Spellbinder discovered. It concerns the Tji. Will you be up to it?"   
"Sure." Rodimus slid off the table. "Just when we thought it was going well," he sighed.   
Optimus only nodded. His sentiment was exactly.

* * *

Cyclonus sat on a chair, frustration churning inside of him, but his outward demeanor was one of cold calculation. Catastrophe had not changed her mind about the virus, but Chaos was apparently trying to get her to see reason. On one hand Cyclonus knew that Catastrophe's decision was right. She was the leader of a small team of survivors who had continued to exist throughout battle after battle and still lived in secret. They consisted of opposite faction who had merged into a tight group and they had managed to form a combiner. The bickering between Calamity and Overload was nothing serious at all. And Cyclonus was an invader, a stranger who was threatening the group. The positive aspect of this encounter was that they had not left him to die, but he knew that if he would ever return to the others, the Council would want to meet them. They would search.   
But on the other hand, those five individuals held the key to the cure of a deadly virus: deadly for everyone confronting Springer. The Decepticons' second-in-command had no idea how many had already been wounded or maybe killed. Springer was not a trained and very skilled warrior, but he had battle experience and he was armed.   
Disaster entered the room he was waiting in, something that looked remotely like a conference room. The anthracite colored Decepticon smiled as Cyclonus shot him a cold look.   
"Turn up the temperature, Cyclonus, or I'll have to skate toward you."   
Cyclonus kept glaring. "What has your Autobot leader decided?" he asked.   
Disaster sighed. "For someone allied with Autobots, you still do resent them a lot."   
He bit back a sharp remark about that there were Autobots and then there were Autobots, and Catastrophe belonging to the latter.   
Disaster sat down on the opposite side of the table, folding his hands. "Tas is a very cautious leader and her caution saved us from being discovered and destroyed, as well as captured, tortured and then scrapped. We all respect her and we all follow he decisions, though she is no empress who can decide on her own, if you think like that." He smiled slightly. "We are a team and the decisions are made as a group."   
"So what is this group's decision on the counter-virus."   
"We'll hand it out to you."   
Cyclonus was surprised. He really was. He had expected everything, but not that! "You will?"   
Disaster's smile widened. "Of course."   
Cyclonus' optics narrowed. "And the conditions?"   
"None. Chaos will give you the virus and also a disk with instructions for your medics. She has studied everything concerning this biological weapon and filed it away." Disaster shrugged. "Without the disk, you'd spend months of trials and errors."   
The other Decepticon got over his shock. "Why?" he then asked. "Why first deny me the counter-virus and now hand it to me?"   
Disaster sighed deeply. "We had to know a few things first. What you told us sounds very good, but some of it is also scary. Other things are simply too good to be true." He rubbed his optics. "Anyway, Chaos pointed out that no matter what is going on up there, your friend and everyone else need this anti-dote."   
Cyclonus nodded slowly. "Thank you."   
Disaster looked seriously at him. "You are welcome."   
Someone else entered the room and Cyclonus discovered Chaos and Catastrophe. Chaos was carrying a small cylinder and a disk. She placed both on the table.   
"The counter-virus," she said.   
"Overload will get you back to the surface," Catastrophe added. "Once you are out of the underground tunnels, you are on your own." She turned and left.   
Disaster met Cyclonus gaze. "Don't mind her. Sometimes she gets like this. Good luck."   
Cyclonus took the cylinder and the disk and stowed it away. Chaos led him to where Overload was waiting. The young Autobot looked cheerful as ever, a complete contrast to the acidly glaring Calamity leaning against the wall. Overload nodded and both left for the way to the surface.

* * *

Optimus stared at the table, trying to collect his thoughts. Rodimus was quiet, disgesting what they had just heard while Midnight and Spellbinder simply waited.   
"We have to call in a conference," Optimus then said into the silence. "Megatron is with the battle fleet. I want him here ASAP. Same goes for Tornado."   
"Firefall?" Rodimus asked levely.   
"I have no idea where she is," Optimus answered, voice neutral. "We'll send out a call, but I won't wait for her."   
Their optics met and Rodimus knew that Optimus still held a grudge against the Venerakkin leader, though he'd never openly confess it.   
"I'll get on it," Rodimus decided. He rose and left the room.   
Optimus sighed deeply and looked at Midnight, who simply returned the solemn gaze seriously.

* * *

Rodimus sat at his desk and tried to get his thoughts straightened out. He had come to Cybertron to have some off time, and now he had ended up with just another crisis -- this time even worse than everything he had thought could happen.   
"Is it so bad?" Shanygn asked. She was sitting on the window sill, legs drawn to her chest.   
Rodimus looked up. "What?"   
"The Interphasing," she said softly. "I mean, does it bother you?"   
"No, no ...." He sighed. "It's just ... I didn't expect it .. it was so sudden... I wasn't prepared..."   
"And what changed through it? I mean, we've grown closer and we had much more ... uhm .... intimate abilities before. We are linked and I can use your power supplies for the Gating. We've always been close. Now it is confirmed that we completed our Interface." She hugged her legs closer. "I don't feel different. You?"   
Rodimus hesitated. "No....." He rubbed his forehead. "Oh, damn, I just don't know how to deal with this!"   
"That I can phase into you at will? Is that the problem?"   
There was a short silence.   
"It is," Shanygn then stated dryly. "Roddy, I'd never invade you, believe me. I don't even know how it happened. We might not be able to repeat it, for all we know!"   
"We can. You used the Gating ability and it happened. I bet you could do it just now by using the same technique -- without draining my energon supplies."   
She shrugged. "Anyway, I don't think there are any secrets you have to be afraid of, or are there? I mean, you know about me. You were in my mind not so long ago! And I've to confess you are rather an open book to me sometimes."   
His head snapped up and he stared at her.   
"I said sometimes," she repeated.   
"Oh."   
Silence again.   
Shanygn sighed loudly.   
[Roddy, this is stupid. Nothing has changed and I thought you'd trust me enough that I wouldn't just jump in!]   
He looked shocked. [I trust you! It's just ... I don't know. It's new...]   
[You've always shown an unusual ability to adjust to new situations. What's so different now?]   
[Uhm....]   
[Thought as much] She slid down from the window sill. [Why don't you just sit back and relax, think about it, and maybe get some fresh air. I know that Silhouette will be here in a few days, so look forward to it] She grinned.   
Rodimus smiled as well and watched her leave. Shanygn was right, and she was also much calmer about this than he was. What was so different about this new development? He had accepted her all those years ago as his partner. He had grown used to the mind link, the connection between them, the Gating, and he trusted Shanygn with more than just his life. He trusted her with his soul. Now they had completed the circle, as Skywolf had said, and what had changed?   
He touched his chest plate.   
He didn't feel different. He was still the same bot inside, so why was he so disturbed by the phasing?   
He had no answer to it. None at all.

* * *

Springer stared at those around him with fear. He tugged helplessly at his bonds, but there was no chance he could free himself.   
All were possessed.   
All were dead.   
His friends.....   
Springer's self cried in agony at the implication. The Tji had won, everyone had perished, and he was the only one left. Why didn't they just finish him? Why didn't they just invade his body, kill his personality and use his dead shell? Why didn't they give him release?!   
Instead those possessing First Aid and Perceptor were scanning and taking readings and examining and checking .... It was an endless procedure and he had to endure it. His bonds were tight and he was unarmed. When Optimus had gunned him down, he had inflicted a lot of damage and while Springer had been out, they had shut down his weapons.   
First Aid stepped into view and suddenly there was also the face of Arcee..... and she was like before: gray and possessed.   
"No!" Springer cried. "You murderers! Killers!"   
Arcee drew back, her features displaying shock. "Springer, no...."   
He turned his head away. He couldn't look at her. "Why don't you get it over with and kill me like all the others?" he asked weakly.   
"Springer, no, you are hallucinating!" Arcee's insistent voice rang in his audio receptors and he shook his head in denial.   
"You are not Arcee!"   
"It's no use," the one he had known as First Aid said. "He won't believe anyone."   
"You're damn right I won't!" the triple-changer hissed. "I know you for what you are and I will never surrender willingly to you! You won't get this shell without a fight!"   
Arcee was guided out of the room and Springer was left alone with his former friends. He tugged at his bonds again, then gave up -- for now.

* * *

The fortress of the Tji struck with incredible speed and the newly acquired battle fleet, stolen from the outposts they had raided and partly built by their own experts, engaged the battle fleet of the enemy. The fortress turned toward the planet and sprayed it with fire.   
Ath'antheia watched it all emotionlessly, part of his attention drawn to a second chart showing him the movement of the other fleet. Katalumera was leading the second fortress and her objective was equally important, especially where the supplies were concernend. She would attack a civil outpost and collect every body shell she could find. All the useless ones would be destroyed. It was called demoralization. If they hit as many small outposts in as short a time as possible, the Autobots would be scattered all over the place and fighting the Tji battle groups while Ath'antheia would move in on the main prize: Cybertron. But this was a future target. First they had to get something even more important: the activation codes for the main centerway of the doorway system.   
"Fleet is falling back," one of the lower ranks reported. "We picked up a call for help. It was too late to scramble their frequencies."   
Ath'antheia nodded. "Whatever help might come, it will be too late," he growled. "Open all gun ports. Fire at will."   
The Tji complied and seconds later the planet was pounded with everything the fortress had. The city just below them was leveled within minutes.   


The Planet of Junk shuddered under the last explosions and then quieted down. The first survivors crawled out of the wreckage, looking around in complete shock. One of them, missing an arm, staggered over to where the body of Wreck-Gar peeked out from under more rubble.   
"Alive and functional," he muttered after a second, relief apparent in his voice.   
Another one was already trying to establish some kind of connection with their allies.   
They had survived, as always, but never had there been so heavy losses.

* * *

Rodimus woke out of recharge with a start and had he been human, he would have been bathed in sweat, panting and shaking. As it was, his energon pump was racing, his optics unfocused and his muscle cables in both hands spasmning. He got control back over his hands and his optics presented him a clear picture after a second, but the energon pump was quieting down only very slowly.   
It had been a nightmare.   
He swung his legs over the edge of the recharge table and sighed. He had had nightmares in his past before, mainly about the death of Optimus Prime and his ascension to the post of Prime, as Autobot leader. Never something like this. In his dream he had merged with Shanygn over and over again, his Autobot symbol distorting every time he did, becoming a Sentinel one.   
And then Shanygn had died inside him, her death acutely felt by his sensible circuits. He had died with her. The only part of him left behind had been a shell with a consciousness that wouldn't react to anything any more.   
"What's wrong with me?" he whispered.   
He and Shanygn had been together as a team for over twenty years now. At first they had been friends, then the link had slowly established, and now they were as close as Interface partners could be. Nothing had ever changed for him since getting to know her. At least not for the worse! He had learned to live without the Matrix, to ignore the hole left inside him after its removal, because Shanygn had filled this emptiness with her presence. She had helped him, coached him through some bad times, had suffered feedbacks over the link, and he in turn had helped her finally come to terms with her past.   
Why was he feeling so different about being Interfaced completely now?   
Because as an Autobot I should not be able to do it! a part of him screamed.   
But as an Autobot he should not have been able to link in the first place. The Matrix had enabled him to do it. Now the circle was complete.....   
And I'm no longer an Autobot.   
This inner confession hit him hard and he touched his Autobot symbol. He was an Autobot...... He had been born as one ..... Could it be that this had changed him into a Sentinel? Skywolf had always denied the fact because Sentinels were not defined by an Interface but by their construction, and Rodimus was definitely an Autobot construct.   
But I'm still far away from everything I would define as an Autobot, he thought darkly. The Matrix changed me into Rodimus Prime, then into Hot Rod, then back into Rodimus. And it left me with a black hole that later turned into an Interface link. And I linked.   
Rodimus stared at the floor. He didn't regret the link and he never would. He would fight to keep Shanygn as his partner and he would never let anything happen to her. Skywolf called it a natural feeling coming from the link. Every Interfaced Sentinel had it.   
But he wasn't a Sentinel.   
And he wasn't an Autobot.   
"What am I?" he asked the emptiness around him.

* * *

Maverick was a feline with many interests and a lot of curiosity. He believed he had inherited that from his mother's side because he was more cat than anything else. Of course his father was a cat as well, but compared to his mother's race he was considered a 'big cat', a predator, while his mother was generally judged as a house cat, which wasn't true, of course. Sparks could be as predatory as anything he had ever seen and since she spent her time with Megatron, Maverick considered her to be quite brave.   
The young robot liked to spend his time among the Decepticons, mainly those here on Cybertron. Most of them tolerated his presence, some reacted with outright hostility, but it didn't bother him. He had learned how to ignore insults and provocation from his mother. She had to suffer through the same and she did it stoically.   
Right now Maverick was on his way to see if he couldn't annoy someone. He felt like it today and maybe he could also find someone to play with if there was no one to annoy. He had developed his personality to his fullest over a month ago and though he missed his child-hood days where he could play and get away with a lot of things, being grown up had its moments as well.   
Suddenly he stopped, ears perked. Someone was coming. Maverick tensed and then his cat eyes widened as he saw Cyclonus step around the corner. The Decepticon looked down on him and Maverick discovered the patched-up look of his mid-section.   
"What happened to you?" he exclaimed. "And furthermore: where were you? Everyone's been looking for you! You were missing for two days!"   
Two days?! Cyclonus checked his internal chronometer and was greeted by a malfunction again. Two days!   
"I took a little detour," he said, voice neutral. "Now contact South Port. I have important news."

* * *

Chaos paced restlessly up and down. Disaster watched her and finally sighed. "Will you sit down?!" he exclaimed. "You'll only wear down the floor plating!"   
Chaos stopped and looked at him. "I should have gone as well."   
He shook his head. "No, you shouldn't. They'll manage."   
"No, they won't! I mean, they will, eventually, but by the time they have understood half the things written in the files, their friend might be dead or has killed others!" Chaos started pacing again. "I could give them the correct counter-virus within a few hours!"   
"And you could get killed within minutes."   
The female Autobot glared at him. "And I always thought you were such a reasonable person. They won't just gun me down in cold blood!"   
"Maybe, but you know they won't let you come back," Disaster pointed out. "And Tas won't like it either."   
"She doesn't have to know," Chaos muttered.   
Disaster sighed. "But I know."   
Chaos gave him a pleading look. "Listen, Disaster, you know I'm needed. I'm a medic! I can't just sit by and watch."   
The Decepticon sighed very, very deeply. She's gonna skin me alive!   
Chaos transformed into her car mode and shot out of the room. Disaster watched her.   
"Tas is gonna kill me -- slowly," he muttered, then followed the departing Chaos. Somebody had to keep an eye on her.

* * *

Sphere keyed in the last commands for the warp gate and sighed. One day. One day away from Cybertron and everyone was going crazy, as it seemed. Starscream had called her on Earth where she, Riverdance and Chromia had wanted to spend some time away from the routine on Cybertron. Sphere had wanted to see something different from the doorway chamber or South Port and Chromia offering her this trip had been like a miracle.   
"Which lasted for a few hours," she muttered. "But well...." Apparently they needed her for some thing or other. "Not a day off..." A sigh escaped her lips.   
Suddenly something popped up on the wide range scanner. An alarm beeped and Sphere looked at the screen, optics widening. Three ships were coming toward her at high speed. She tried to identify them, but they had no IDs.   
And then her scanners went dark.   
As did everything else.   
Disrupters!   
The first ship shot past her and she caught a glimpse of a grey, sleek body. The others did the same, turned around and returned, this time slowing down.   
Sphere tensed, not knowing what to do. Communication was down, as was the shuttle's mobility.... Something docked against her shuttle and rocked it.   
!!! >> she sent a cry for help through her host space, but something seemed to block her. She tried it again and again she encountered massive blocks. Panic spread through the female Key.   
And then the hatch way exploded into the shuttle's room. Two robots appeared, both covered by the grayish film indicating a Tji possession. One pointed his gun at her and fired.   
Sphere was hit by a strange feeling. It wasn't pain, just the sensation of numbness, then weightlessness. She knew she was collapsing and she thought she felt the two robots carry her toward their ship, but it was like in a dream.   
Then there was nothing at all.

* * *

Ripples passed through it.   
Deep ripples transforming into waves.   
Ralyk was alerted to the ripples because they came in through one of the constantly open links to the Council and the doorway teams, and it was disturbed by them. It went to investigate.   
Seconds later Alpha Trion was shaken out of his peace and quiet by a loud roar of fury, and he knew that something terrible had happened.   
Ralyk rolled around him like a black and stormy see, lightning included. The first generation Autobot had to get out of the way of the furious entity several times.   
"What happened?" he asked, knowing he treaded on thin ice. Ralyk was not know to be temperamental like this and for it to break its iron calmness, this had to be severe.   
-- Sphere --   
"What about her?"   
-- She is gone --   
With that the entity left him alone, part of it, the part Alpha Trion thought of as its consciousness, flowing toward some deeper part of Vector Sigma.   
"Gone?" he muttered.

* * *

First Aid looked at Cyclonus, sizing him up and down and simultaneously taking in the battered look, then took the cylinder and the disk. Optimus stood behind the injured Decepticon, looking like he wanted nothing more than to haul Cyclonus over to a quiet corner and debrief him thoroughly, but right now he waited until First Aid was done. Cyclonus gave the medic an idea what he was dealing with and First Aid nodded. A lot of that fit the theory he had started to formulate. He looked at the cylinder.   
"A basic anti-dote that has to be changed to fit the individual virus," he muttered. "Fascinating. I'll have to study the disk to find out how to do it, but it can be managed. I need Perceptor for it as well." He walked over to the com console and called his colleague.   
Cyclonus sighed silently, feeling a bit relieved, though he'd never confess to it to anyone. He became aware of Optimus Prime. He knew what the Autobot leader wanted and he knew his repairs could wait. Chaos had fixed him up quite well; at least well enough to run on his current power supply a bit longer.   
"How long and detailed do you want it?" he asked nevertheless, his voice rather unfriendly.   
"As long and as detailed as it can be," was the neutral answer.   
Cyclonus nodded and Optimus gestured him to go over to the small office First Aid had in med bay.

*

First Aid was puzzling over the readings, as he had done for the last forty Cybertron hours. The base for the anti-dote was easy enough to check and analyze, but getting it to grow and change into an counter-virus for Springer was a major drag. It kept falling back to its original state and no matter what he did, it remained unstable and easy to attack and destroy by the virus itself. He had consulted the notes on the disk, but even though they were helpful, First Aid knew something was eluding him. But what?   
"Try changing the structure of the second string to fit the aggressive component of the virus," a female voice said.   
First Aid jumped and nearly collided with the monitor behind him as he whirled around. Not far away from him stood a female Autobot. She was colored in pure, fiery red. Her blue optics regarded him with a mixture of amusement and apology.   
"I'm sorry," she now said. "I didn't want to scare you."   
"Who .... who are you?" First Aid had never seen her before and he doubted she belonged to Chromia's team. The faded symbol on her chest was a first hint, as was the 'old' look to her body.   
"My name is Chaos."   
If it had been possible, First Aid's jaw would have dropped open. "You are the one who sent me the disk and the counter-virus base!" he blurted.   
"That's me."   
"But...."   
"I'll explain later. I've come to help you guys." She walked over to the monitor and studied what he had done, then typed several commands into the computer. The graphics on the screen changed. "If you keep alternating the strings like this, you should soon accomplish a useful base for building the anti-dote," she explained.   
Fist Aid edged carefully closer, drawn by his own curiosity. He studied the screen. "Yes," he muttered, realizing what his mistake had been all along. He pushed a few more buttons and Chaos smiled.   
"You are catching on," she nodded.   
He chuckled, then grew serious. "How did you get in, by the way?"   
"Through the door?" When he gave her an annoyed look she added, "I know my way around tunnels. And as an Autobot you really have easy access. Female Autobots score even more. You just have to know what to say."   
First Aid stored this information for later discussion with the Primes. They had to do something about this security leak. But right now all he wanted to do was create the anti-dote and with Chaos' help, they might just make it.

* * *

"Oh, no...." Silverbolt closed the distance between him and the shuttle.   
"Oh-oh," AirRaid agreed and did the same. The other Aerialbots stayed back, covering them.   
Silverbolt transformed and cautiously drifted closer. He could make out the blown hatch and the burn marks around the entrance. "Cover me," he told his team and pulled his own weapon. Then he entered.   
The inside of the shuttle was dark and quiet. Nothing moved. The small cockpit was completely dead and not a single computer was on. Silverbolt checked everything and then sighed. The pilot was gone. The Aerialbot leader flew out of the shuttle again and shook his head at the inquiring looks of the others.   
"We better get this shuttle home," AirRaid muttered.   
Silverbolt had to agree. He opened a channel and radioed Cybertron. They had found the long overdue and missing shuttle, but no trace of Sphere.

* * *

"They what?"   
The enraged voice rang through the empty room and Calamity and Overload flinched, Overload even ducked his head.   
"How could she do it?" Tas asked angrily, slamming her hand onto the table in front of her.   
"Uhm," Overload made.   
"Disaster is with her," Calamity added.   
"Even worse! He of all should know how dangerous it is!" Tas whirled around and tried to calm down. "Who knows what they are going to do!"   
"Maybe let her help the infected?" Overload suggested, his voice cautiously like someone who knew he was about to fall down a very deep chasm if he wasn't careful.   
Tas glared at him, then the fire in her blue optics died down a bit. She sighed deeply. Disaster had always told her it was time to get back to the surface, to see what had changed, but she was just too cautious for it. They had survived down here because of this caution and it was a habit that was hard to break. And to top it, Disaster was her second-in-command, someone who was normally such a level-headed person. Then again he could also be the most distracted or most surprising person as well.   
"All right," she whispered, voice level. It suggested that Disaster was in for some major chewing out the second he returned -- and so was Chaos.

* * *

Springer's mind was filled with pictures of panic, fear and horror. He was overwhelmed by them, unable to catch a clear thought. Everywhere around him were Tji, examining him, testing, playing, prolonging his agony. He watched them come and go, hook him up to instruments, scribbling notes. Springer wanted to scream, to try and free himself, but he was growing steadily weaker.   
Their doing.   
They were slowly depleting him of his energon, watching his reaction. He was nothing but a guinea pig.   
The triple changer gave a sob and dimmed his optics to fade out the surroundings. He wanted to die. All his friends were dead and his fighting spirit was close to nil.   
"Why don't you kill me?" he asked, but it was nothing but a hoarse scratch in the back of his throat.

* * *

Cyclonus had been back for about forty hours now and his body was getting back to its old level. He had been repaired, had recharged and he was catching up on what had happened while he had been gone. While he had been doing this, Raven had caught up with him. She had looked worried when he had let her in, though she had tried to mask it, and if he hadn't known her so well by now, he would have missed the fine nuances.   
Right now Raven stood staring at a picture on the wall, apparently completely unaware of her surroundings. He walked over and touched her shoulder. She didn't react.   
"Raven?"   
A tremor went through her body and her yellow optics flared briefly. "Oh, no!!" she moaned.   
Cyclonus was immediately on alert. "What?" he demanded.   
"Sphere," the female Key whispered.   
"She's on Earth with Riverdance and Chromia."   
She shook her head. "No, we called her back..... she never arrived. Ralyk says she is gone."   
Cyclonus stared at her. "Dead?" he asked emotionlessly.   
Raven shook her head again. "No. Ralyk can't feel her anymore. It thinks the Tji have her...."   
The Decepticon's face hardened. Raven was already on her way to the door.   
"The other will be informed shortly," she told him as he accompanied her.   
"Why kidnap her?" he mused out aloud. "She can't be used as a host body. She's protected by Ralyk, isn't she?"   
Raven nodded. "Even without a link she is. She was born by it. I have an idea why they might have done it." He shot her a questioning look. "Like Starscream, Nightmare and me, Sphere has part of the activation codes for the space station, the main centerway. It makes her a target."   
Cyclonus digested that and the conclusion he then drew was nothing cheerful. Not at all.

* * *

Optimus Prime stared at the slender red robot, trying to hide his growing confusion and curiosity. He had walked into the lab, not knowing what would expect him when he had received the call from First Aid. Now he was confronted with a part of the combiner team Cyclonus had mentioned. Rodimus, who had met him in the corridor and decided to accompany him, was equally stunned, though he showed his curiosity quite openly.   
"We have the anti-dote," First Aid said proudly, ignoring the fact that Chaos was in effect an intruder, a stranger.   
"First Aid, how ... why is Chaos here?" Optimus finally asked the enthusiastic medic.   
"I came here to help," Chaos explained. "You might have taken days to find the right encoding to stabilize the strings and by then, it might have been too late?"   
"Too late? Why? Springer is under restraints."   
"Yes, he can't harm you, but the virus would eventually wear him out. His agitation is running deep and he is drawing heavily on his energon reserves."   
First Aid nodded. "I noticed that already and we hooked him up to a feed, but his supplies are dwindling fast and the more energon we feed him, the more he uses."   
"Vicious circle," Rodimus muttered.   
"Exactly."   
"So you decided to surface. After such a long time." Optimus shook his head. "You kept your existence a secret for millennia while others died, but because of this virus you came back, to save one single life?"   
Chaos nodded.   
Optimus looked closely at her. "I don't believe it."   
Chaos sighed. "Then don't."   
First Aid shrugged. "You can solve this between the three of you," he muttered, almost to himself. "I'll check on my patient." He walked off.   
Optimus looked at Chaos and Chaos looked at Optimus. Rodimus gave an exasperated sigh.   
"How about we move this little meeting to an office?" he suggested.   
"How about you'll just let me go?" Chaos asked in return.   
"How about you'll answer a few questions first?" Optimus wanted to know, voice level.   
"How about you raise your hands and let the lady leave as she requested?" a fourth, unknown voice asked calmly.   
Optimus and Rodimus whirled around, suddenly faced by an anthracite colored robot marked as a Decepticon.   
"How did you get in here?" Rodimus hissed.   
The Decepticon shrugged. "Stealth mode?" he suggested, still calm. "Now if you please...." He gestured with his weapon.   
"You won't get away with this," Optimus growled.   
"Watch us."   
"You followed me?" Chaos now exclaimed.   
"Just to keep an eye on you, Chaos. Now let's leave these hospitable grounds."   
Chaos looked at the two Autobots, then the Decepticon. "I think the two have a point," she said calmly. "It's time to talk and maybe come back."   
The Decepticon's eyes narrowed. "What are you saying...?"   
"You heard me."   
"We won't hurt any of you," Optimus said softly. "I know Cyclonus told you about the alliance. It's true. Let us talk to your leader."   
"Tas won't agree on it," the Decepticon muttered.   
"Neutral ground," Rodimus suggested.   
The two visitors exchanged looks. "If you let me go," Chaos then said, "we'll relay your request, okay?"   
Rodimus chuckled. "Hey, you are the one who has the fire power right now."   
She smiled. "True. Now, do you agree?"   
Optimus nodded. "Neutral ground. You choose it."   
Chaos transformed into her car mode and rolled over to the Decepticon's side. "Let's go, Disaster. We got someone to convince!"   
Disaster sighed heavily, stowed the weapon and transformed into what looked like a stealth fighter. Both shot down the corridor, which was just wide enough to accommodate the jet and mercifully empty, then left South Port.   
Rodimus looked at his older partner. "Think their leader will agree?"   
"I hope she does," Prime answered.   
Suddenly he tensed and so did Rodimus. Both felt the alien link that connected them to the entity Ralyk activate. Information was dealt to them and both realized what it meant. And both knew that everyone of the Council had been informed simultaneously.   
"I'll deal with them when they arrive," Rodimus said calmly. "You deal with the combiners."   
Optimus was about to say something, then thought better of it. It was either him or Rodimus going down there and meet Catastrophe, and since the young second-in-command was clearly still digesting what had happened to him and Shanygn, Optimus knew he was the chosen one. And he was the most logical one. The five robots in hiding had to be as old as himself and maybe he would recognize one or the other..... It would help them.   
Now he simply nodded, wishing Rodimus the best of luck. He needed it. Especially with Megatron.

* * *

The Autobot base on the outpost planet fell quickly and Katalumera was pleased with the body shells they collected. As the still living but paralyzed robots were stored, she received a message from Ath'antheia. Everything had gone as smoothly as predicted.   
"Change course for the second target," she ordered and the navigators complied.   
She would meet up with the first fortress outside the target system in a standard week. Until then Ath'antheia would have the answers to his questions from the prisoner and the Autobots would be frantic enough. They had caught one of their important members.   
"Course set," came the confirmation.   
"Full speed."   
The fortress moved.

* * *

Catastrophe stared at her second-in-command, unsure whether to laugh or to yell. She had yelled at him mere minutes ago for leaving without her permission, for endangering himself and the group, for disobeying the unspoken rule not to surface. Chaos had been equally yelled at and she had suffered though it in silence. Tas knew that Chaos would go into a raging battle field if someone needed her help as a medic and there was no reasoning with her in that regard. But that was just Chaos and she should have expected her friend to act like this. Catastrophe had dismissed her and when she had turned to Disaster, he had suddenly explained this outrageousness to her. How could he even propose it? Of all the robots she knew, he would have the least reason to go back to the surface.   
"You can't be serious, Disaster," she said in a near-whisper.   
"I'm very serious, Tas. We have to make a decision, you have to make a decision, and it will affect us all greatly." His red optics were calm and dead serious. "We can't keep hiding down here while the planet thrives. And it is thriving, just like it seems to be growing closer to a new crisis."   
Disaster had spent some time shadowing Chaos, but when it had been obvious that she wouldn't be in any danger any time soon, he had started to explore. Using his stealth mode, he had infiltrated those levels he could, trying not to be too obvious, and had done what he could to gather intelligence. It hadn't been much, but it had been enough to confirm Cyclonus' story and to see what was going on. It made him think.   
"Disaster, as Autobots, we might be accepted back into the ranks, but you deserted your kind and allied yourself with the enemy," Tas now said. "Who knows what Megatron will do!"   
"We have to wait and see," he answered fatalistically.   
She shook her head. "I can't accept it!"   
Disaster met her eyes. "All I ask is that you hear out what Optimus Prime has to say, nothing more, nothing less."   
There was a long silence, then she sighed deeply. "All right. Neutral ground."   
He smiled, satisfied. "Thanks."

* * *

Springer was asleep, his systems shut down to regenerate, his body hooked up to an energon feed. First Aid was watching the monitors, feeling pleased. The counter-virus was working and almost every trace of the virus had been erased. Arcee stood at Springer's side and her face was a mixture of faint hope and still existing fear.   
"He's going to be all right," First Aid assured her as he finished his check. "He'll be up in about twelve hours and back to his old self in another two days."   
Arcee nodded but she stayed. First Aid smiled and left her alone.

* * *

Rodimus watched the giant flag ship move in and he had to say he was impressed. The Apocalypse was quite a sight. Megatron had arrived with the ship a few hours ago and he was steaming mad. A few Decepticons had already felt his wrath -- or rather his backhand and fist. Cyclonus was currently trying to mediate a bit, which might result in another injury soon. Rodimus sighed. Tornado would be here in another hour or so while Midnight had been here all along. Only Firefall was missing and no one knew where she was. Midnight had told Rodimus openly that he didn't care whether or not Firefall made an appearance.   
"Feeling better?"   
He looked down. Shanygn looked back.   
"Depends on your definition of good and better?" he smiled.   
"Still troubled?"   
Rodimus sighed. "More or less," he confessed. "But those new problems are even worse." He lapsed into silence, an uncomfortable silence.   
Shanygn hopped up onto the window sill, staring at him long enough to make him feel even more uncomfortable. "Roddy, do you have an identity crisis?" she asked straight-forward.   
"Uhm."   
"You do."   
"Uhm."   
The blue-haired woman sighed deeply. "Don't tell me you don't because something like this happens. I thought I saw it coming when we developed our first abilities, but it didn't occur because you were still an Autobot. You didn't have Sentinel abilities. Now you do." She kept on holding his blue gaze. "Rodimus, you are an Autobot and nothing will ever change it. No symbol on your chest, no extra-ordinary abilities ... nothing!"   
Rodimus hesitated. "But ....."   
"No buts! You are unique, but you are not a freak! You are an Autobot who has gone through more than I wish to my worst enemy and you have come out of every crisis better than before." Shanygn smiled. [Roddy, you are what you think you are, and I think you are an Autobot]   
He smiled cautiously. "But I'm not sure what to think."   
[Sleep over it] she suggested.   
[I already did. Didn't work] He smiled wryly. [Resulted in nightmares]   
Suddenly the com link beeped. Rodimus walked over to his terminal and looked at it. "Incoming message," he muttered. As he typed in his user ID, Shanygn walked over and peered up to the screen. She ignited the thrusters of her exo-suit and catapulted herself onto the table.   
Rodimus stared at the message, then at Shanygn. She had paled considerably. "Oh, no," she whispered.   
Rodimus' face was grim. "Oh, yes." He straightened. "I've to call back Optimus. Whatever else is happening here, this is worse than anything!"   
Shanygn could only nod.

* * *

Springer felt terrible. He wasn't aching and his energon supply was up to normal, but the knowledge about what he had done made up for any non-existent bodily discomfort he should be feeling.   
"I'm sorry," he whispered.   
"Don't be," Arcee told him gently. "It's not your fault."   
Daniel nodded in agreement. It pained Springer to look at the tall human he had known nearly since birth. Daniel was sporting a large bruise running down his left temple to his jaw and he rather not talked a lot because it hurt.   
"But it is!" he protested. "I opened this damned cylinder!"   
"So you did," a rough voice said and he looked over to the entrance to the treatment room he was in, discovering Cyclonus standing in the doorway. "It was stupid and it was dangerous."   
Arcee's optics narrowed. "If you came here to blame him, leave," she said.   
Cyclonus gave her a wry smile. "I don't have to blame him, he does it all by himself." His red optics fixed on Springer. "And if he isn't completely stupid, he'll learn from it."   
Springer glared at him but Cyclonus only turned and left. The triple-changer hung his head. "He's right, y'know," he muttered.   
Arcee laid a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe, but it's over and it won't happen again." She smiled at him.   
Springer shrugged. "Yeah, but I still hurt people, nearly killed you and Daniel, and Rodimus.... Shanygn. Gods, what would have happened if Optimus hadn't shot me?"   
"It's something we shouldn't dwell on," Daniel said. "It's over and the specimens from the Decepticon base are now safely locked up. We also have the counter-virus, so stop worrying."   
Springer shrugged again.   
Easier said than done.

* * *

Optimus Prime didn't know what to expect. He had met Chaos and Disaster, but he had yet to meet Catastrophe. He didn't know her by name and maybe he should have contacted Chromia to request her input, but the call to confirm that the survivors were ready to talk had come in on short notice and faster than he had expected. The chosen 'neutral ground' was far away from South Port and also rather far away from the secret base --which was secret no longer, Mirage and Perceptor were working nearly non-stop to get it cleaned out of everything remotely looking like a biological weapon and the Technobots were busy with the computer banks.   
Someone approached and Optimus tensed, wondering whether taking along some back-up wouldn't have been better. Well, he had wanted to show his good will and those five combiners had not threatened Cyclonus in any way, helping him as best as they could, but still .... it would have felt better. The approaching vehicle looked remotely like a hovercraft, though it was of Cybertronian design. It was followed by the anthracite stealth fighter he knew as Disaster. Both transformed and Optimus Prime tried to recall whether or not he knew this female. The design was faintly familiar, but he couldn't attach a name to her.   
"Thank you for coming," he greeted her. "You are Catastrophe?"   
The female Autobot, her colors a very dark red, black and silver, nodded. Silver symbols were on her upper thighs. "And you are Optimus Prime." She smiled faintly. "We heard a lot of rumors about what happened to you and the Ark, how you returned and were killed." She tilted her head. "Looks like they couldn't keep you down."   
Optimus couldn't help but smile as well, though it only expressed itself in his optics. "In a way. I want to thank you for helping Cyclonus and us in turn. You saved Springer's life."   
"It was not my decision," she said, glancing at Disaster who was a silent pillar of support at her side. "But I'm glad your friend is healed."   
"And I'm glad you gave me a chance to talk to you. A lot has changed, Catastrophe, and you no longer have to hide below surface." Optimus spread his hands to take in the planet. "Cybertron has entered a new Golden Age and though it will take time, we will rebuild the planet. And we need every little bit of help we can get."   
Catastrophe looked at him. "This is a serious decision. We have hidden down here for millennia and survived only because of caution and taking the lowest risk involved. I can't just throw these millennia of caution aside and believe in something that might as well be a trap."   
"It isn't a trap, Catastrophe, and I'm not lying," Optimus told her. "Why should we lie to you? We have nothing to gain from it. You are Autobots and many have come out of hiding, even the female groups."   
She appeared thoughtful. "In many ways, I'm no longer an Autobot. And even if we Autobots surfaced, I won't leave Calamity and Disaster to the mercy of Autobot judgment."   
Optimus shook his head. "There will be no trials. Decepticons have surfaced as well and we have formed an alliance. It doesn't matter what happened in the past, Catastrophe." His optics suddenly appeared shadowed. "Among us, we have different past allegiances, even one of the Assassins."   
Disaster's red optics flared. "Assassin?" he asked tonelessly.   
Optimus nodded. "His name is Nightmare, formerly known as Static."   
Another flare. "He survived?" Disaster whispered.   
"Yes. Believe me, I had a hard time accepting it for a fact that he is no longer Static, that he changed, but I finally did. He is an ally, a valuable one, and he isn't the only one to comeback. Riverdance joined us as well and she and Megatron are not on the best of terms, but it works. It has to work!"   
Catastrophe looked at him for a long time. Suddenly Prime's personal com link beeped. He gave it an irritated look. He had told Rodimus not to contact him unless there was another major crisis. His annoyance turned into foreboding.   
Oh, no....   
"Yes?" he asked.   
"Optimus, this is Rodimus," the solemn and much too serious voice of his second-in-command could be heard, even by the two combiners. "We have a situation here. The Junkions have set off a call for help. Their planet has been attacked by the Tji and every major base has been destroyed. They are still counting the losses. There was also a raid on one outpost. All abducted, the post destroyed."   
If he could have, Optimus would have paled.   
"And we picked up the Tji fortresses ...." Rodimus went on. "They have set course for Nebulos."   
Optimus, who had had a sinking feeling all throughout the report, felt his mind go blank. Nebulos!   
"Call in everyone you can find of the Council!" he ordered sharply. "I don't care if Firefall is missing or not! I'll be there in an hour!"   
"Gotcha!"   
Optimus shut down the com line and shot Catastrophe and Disaster a look.   
"I have to leave," he said. "This is serious, I'm sorry."   
Catastrophe hesitated, then she said, "We are coming along."   
Optimus stopped. "What?"   
"I said we are coming," she repeated.   
The Autobot leader saw three figures step out of the shadows around him and nodded slowly. Then he transformed and shot away, opening his com line again. The others had to know about this rather surprising development.

* * *

Ath'antheia allowed himself a chuckle and turned away from the display which showed him -- and his prisoner -- their course and time till target in all details. The female Key stood between three of his guards, shackled and cloaked. The cloak was only experimental, but it seemed to work. It cut off all communication with Ralyk through blocking the link and they had also deactivated all weapons or self-destruct mechanisms while she had been unconscious.   
"Well, my dear," the Tji leader now purred, "now that the course is set, let's talk business."   
The Key stared defiantly at him. He would have loved to simply taken her over and draw the knowledge he needed out of her brain unit, but she was protected. He'd have to fall back on conventional ways, which might be fun.   
"What do you want?" she hissed.   
"Oh, nothing much. Only the key codes to reactivate the main centerway," he told her pleasantly.   
"I don't know anything about key codes," she growled.   
Ath'antheia leaned closer. "Do you? I don't think so. Ralyk gave the key codes to its most trusted creations, and you are one of them. You were born by it and spent over a century with the entity. You know the codes. Give them to me!" The last was a hiss.   
She glared at him.   
The Tji shrugged. "So be it." He gestured at the guards. "Take her down to Peyra and let him deal with her."   
The female didn't utter a sound, but her green optics were alive with hatred, then she was escorted away.   
"You think she has the key codes?" Roo asked as he stepped to him.   
"If not all of them, then at least a part," Ath'antheia answered. "And I'll get them out of her, even if I have to take her apart to do it!"

* * *

Ralyk had tried to reactivate the link to its Key with every method known to it, but it was blocked solidly. Ath'antheia had done good work, it had to confess and felt anger rise again. It squelched it.   
Sphere was in danger.   
They all were.   
Ath'antheia would most likely extract the quarter of the codes Sphere had from her and who knew what they'd do to get them. Ralyk hated to think of Sphere's suffering. And now the Tji were already moving against a new target.   
Nebulos.   
Ralyk linked up with the Council members which were all there, except for Firefall. Different emotions washed through the links. Megatron was a bright white flame of barely restrained anger which fed Ralyk's own anger until the entity dimmed the feedback from the link. Rodimus was projecting worry and fear for the Nebulans and Sphere, Optimus as well, and Midnight was like always a complete darkness. The Sentinel leader hid his true feelings well and Ralyk didn't bother digging past the blackness. It knew what lay behind. Tornado was simply shocked.   
The vast entity sighed softly.   
All those emotions were also inside it. And it could do nothing to release them.   
Ralyk hesitated. Maybe it could. Maybe.....   
It curled back into one of the farthest corner of Vector Sigma. It would be a big step and it would have consequences... Incredible consequences. Ralyk was not ready to do it.   
Yet.......

* * *

Carly stared at the large robot in shock. "But Spike is on Nebulos!" she whispered.   
Ultra Magnus nodded. He had taken over the task to tell Carly about what was happening. "We know. The Apocalypse is already on the way to help and I'm taking the Monolith to follow her in a few hours."   
The blonde human closed her eyes. "Will there be an evacuation?" she asked.   
"We haven't been able to get through to Nebulos due to intereferences, but SkyLynx is with Spike. And two Sentinels are on their way to get through to Nebulos before he Tji arrive."   
Carly nodded slowly, then turned and left the room. Magnus watched her go, then left as well. He had a new ship to command. The Monolith was waiting.

* * *

Optimus Prime stood on the top of the lookout tower, watching the Monolith and her fleet depart. Shockwave and the Apocalypse were halfway to the Nebulos system by now and the only chance the planet had. He hoped it was a good chance.   


Only a few levels down, Catastrophe had just been informed about the range of the whole crisis. She sat down hard, staring at Rodimus, knowing what this implied. They had survived all that time only to surface to another war. Disaster put a hand on her shoulder.   
"We'll manage. We always have, we always will."   
She nodded. They were survivors. And so were the others.   


And in the doorway chamber, something shattered. Starscream stared at the broken computer monitor he had just thrown against the wall. Hatred surged inside him in great waves, hatred against the Tji.   
"They will pay!" he whispered and it was both a promise and a curse.   
Then he shot out of the room. Nightmare watched him go.   
"Someone should follow him," he said softly.   
-- No --   
-- He has to deal with it ...... alone --   
-- You and Raven are needed here --   
"Now that the silver team is gone?" the Gatekeeper asked sarcastically.   
-- No --   
-- Now that the war has truly started --   



End file.
